The Promise
by
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P A R T ONE – E M I G R A T I O N CHAPTER 1 Mandy and Heinie Sitting along the rippling mill stream very near the wooden water wheel of the Altleiningen grain mill were two young friends. This spot was a favorite place for Heinie and Mandy to spend some time together on many afternoons before each had to return home to their family’s evening meal. The mill was located on the Eckbach River not far upstream from Grundstadt in the Palatinate region of Germany. It was in the mid 1800s. On one such afternoon, Mandy shared her thoughts. “Oh, Heinie, don’t you just love the sound of the water sloshing upon the paddles and down into the millrace again? I like to think it is breathing ‘come with me to lands far off.’” “Yes, meine Liebchen, and then to think about how it will flow down from our mill and then to do the same for Kaufmann’s mill.” “And then further on it will be passing by Grundstadt,” Mandy added. “Maybe some day you and I could own a mill along the Eckbach. Would you like that?” “Oh yes! Do you think we could?” “Perhaps.” They were quiet for a while when Heinie added, “And, you know this same water will flow on and eventually spill into the Rhine!” “And the Rhine spills into the sea—perhaps even on to North America!” With that, the hour had come for them to part to go to their separate homes. “Guten nacht, Mandy.” “Auf wiedersehen, Liebchen.”
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About the Book
Growing up in the early nineteenth century in Germany, Heinrich, and Amanda were joined by the promise they had made to marry each other one day in the future. But they were forced apart when their families emigrated separately to America at different times. After many futile attempts to find each other in the new world in which they now lived, each reluctantly has to settle into a new life separated from their promised one. Until, years later, their lives converge in a most surprising set of circumstances. But is it too late for their promise to be kept? Perhaps. He and his wife of sixty-eight years, Doris, are retired in Bozeman, Montana.
About the Author
A five decade Montanan, Paul Krebill grew up in the Chicago area with parental roots in Iowa and Missouri. His German heritage dates back to his four great grandparents who emigrated from Germany to the U.S. in the 1830s. He served as an ordained Presbyterian clergy person in parishes in Wyoming, Montana and New Zealand, as campus pastor, and in hospital chaplaincy. In his retirement he designed and produced stained, and has published works of fition and spiritual devotion through Xlibris. He and his wife, Doris, of sixty-eight years, are retired in Bozeman, Montana.